Mount Keen from Glen Tanar

Best to keep straight on !

West of Aberdeen, Aboyne lies on the River Dee and just south-west of the village an unclassified road leads to Glen Tanar. At the end of public access on this road is a car-park from where the route up Mount Keen begins. Parking is £3 for a day (Tuesdays free !).

The 'Halfway Hut'

From the car-park, head 100m back along the road then cross the bridge over the Water of Tanar. Immediately to the left is Glen Tanar visitor centre and its ranger service.Take the track to the right and cycle south past Glen Tanar Church and cemetary to a junction and turn right.

The track comes to another junction by a bridge over Water of Tanar and right-of-way sign pointing to "Glen Esk by the Mounth") - you can take either route - I prefer straight on as the track is smoother.A further 1km, the track splits - keep left (to the right is the old track which has been badly erroded by the river).

The track comes to another junction , turn sharp right and cross the bridge over the Water of Allachy. Shortly thereafter yet another junction and bridge , turn left heading west alongside the north bank of Water of Tanar.

Around 2½km further on you'll pass a small wooden shack, the "Half Way Hut" and as its name suggests, you're now around halfway to the foot of Mount Keen ! Shortly after this you'll come out of the forest and get your first view of Mount Keen ahead.

Another bridge is reached, with the track crossing onto the southern bank of the Water of Tanar. After a brief cycle of 1km, yet another bridge is crossed, this time it's back onto the northern bank for 1.5km to a right-of-way sign pointing to Mount Keen near a fairly new metal bridge . Once over this, the track gets much rougher and begins to climb fairly steeply uphill, so perhaps best to leave bikes just beyond this bridge.

Leaving Mount Road, last climb to Mount Keen's summit

The now rough but obvious track is followed uphill and comes to a grate . Beyond this, a fine path has been constructed with side sections around culverts enabling accomplished mtb-ers to continue (see glentanar.co.uk for info on the reconstructed path).

At around c700m , the path splits - the 'Mounth Road' heads off right around the summit dome of Mount Keen and a footpath heads directly ahead uphill aiming for the summit. This final section is made of rocks and boulders carefully placed and twists and turns until Mount Keen's trig point comes into view.

Mount Keen's summit

Return by the same route. The cycle for the most part is a gentle downhill and therefore easier than the route in.